How You Remind Me
by xIrelandx
Summary: Nothing major, just a little Harry/Luna fluff.


Something about Luna's nature always helped to calm Harry down. It was true, when people said Luna was strange. She often made Harry feel slightly uncomfortable by saying things that were far too true for himself and others to hear, her head was always in the clouds, and she believed in creatures considered even by the wizarding world to be imaginary. But though she was often ridiculed for being strange, Harry had yet to find anything truly weird about Luna.

So it was that, bridled with angst and anger at everything in the world, Harry found himself at the door leading to Ravenclaw tower, demanding to speak to Luna. The picture refused to move, but Harry was in luck: the passageway was being opened.

Or, perhaps, not so in luck. Standing in front of him now was none other than Cho Chang. The two stared at one another for an awkward moment, Harry leaning from one foot to the other. "Hello, Harry" she offered. Harry simply nodded stiffly, wondering if he should turn around and go back, but Cho prevented him. "Are you looking for someone?" she asked. Harry felt, as he often did when speaking to Ravenclaws, that Cho was looking right through him. Harry assumed it had to do with the incredible smarts that landed them in the house of blue and bronze to begin with, but according to Luna Harry was absurdly easy to read; other people just chose not to.

"Y-yeah," Harry spluttered in response. He gritted his teeth in embarrassment and frustration, his thoughts moving so quickly that he'd nearly forgotten how to speak. "I've got to talk to Luna."

Cho avoided his eyes. "I don't think she's up there. Sorry. Check the forest."

Harry nodded and turned promptly the other way. Before he started down the stairs, he heard one of Cho's friends pipe up with "What's he need Loony for?" If Harry stopped on the middle of the stairs and breathed heavily in and out, ten times, the way Hermione had suggested (not that it ever really helped). If he wasn't in a hurry (and this weren't the very reason he was going to see Luna), Harry might have exploded at the two girls badmouthing his friend. When he heard the distinct sound of something crashing and girls screaming, he considered with a smile that maybe he had confronted them, after all.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Harry did indeed find Luna in the forest. She was dancing about, barefoot, singing an airy song in Welsh to the trees and caressing them softly. Harry tramped down the hill and slammed against the end of a tree, slumping to the ground feeling his anger vibrate from him in spirals. Luna twirled to face him, a small smile swirling on her face and a twig resting in her hair. She sat quietly next to him.

This was another thing Harry appreciated about Luna: she wasn't afraid of silence. She didn't expect him to talk, nor did she talk to him. She didn't try to figure what he was thinking or how he was feeling because she knew, as no one else did, when to just leave him alone. It almost frightened him at times, and he wondered occasionally if she could read peoples' minds.

Luna leaned her head against his shoulder, knowing from experience that Harry would be comfortable with this action, so long as she wasn't talking. He needed silence, he needed to think, and the reason he needed her was so he could be sure he wouldn't do something rash before he had finished thinking. Luna would know if he'd actually thought his actions through. She always knew.

"I hate everybody," he blurted, knowing Luna wouldn't take it the wrong way as others did. "Nobody ever listens to me, and nobody ever tells me anything. I've seriously-" he now had accompanying hand gestures "- been living my whole life, jerked around from place to place, with little to no explanation. It's like people forget I'm a person sometimes." His voice sounded like it wanted to continue, but he had nothing left to say.

Luna remained silent, breathing slowly and steadily. She let her fingers slowly crawl into the spaces between his. He squeezed her hand gently and let his head fall against hers, the rhythm of his breathing falling into time with hers. He tilted his head, still feeling the slightest bit restless. He made to kiss the top of her head but missed, as Luna had turned hers to tell him something. Their lips met.

At first, neither applied pressure, both in a pleasant surprise. But Luna leaned closer, and Harry tilted forward. He closed his eyes. It wasn't urgent, or particularly passionate. It was just nice, yet Harry liked it more than any other kiss he'd remembered giving or receiving. Not that he was really capable of remembering at the moment. His mind was now rendered blissfully silent.

They broke off and Luna rested her head on his shoulder again. Harry smiled. His heart rate slowed down again, not realizing that it had ever sped up. He was about to say something – he didn't know what, really – when Luna said softly, "You know, your shoes might be the reason you feel so stressed." Harry gave her a puzzled look. "They compress your soul wavelength."


End file.
